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omnipoetics:schechner [2025/03/26 21:27] – [Kaiko Celebration: A Symbolic Connection Between Ritualistic Dancing and Alliances] sydneyomnipoetics:schechner [2025/04/20 14:40] (current) – [Richard Schechner] mary
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 +====== Schechner ======
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 ====== Kaiko Celebration: A Symbolic Connection Between Dancing and Alliances ====== ====== Kaiko Celebration: A Symbolic Connection Between Dancing and Alliances ======
 The //kaiko// celebration is described by Schechner as a year-long festival of the Tsembaga, put on for both entertainment and strategic purposes. Key elements of the //kaiko// include dancing and trade. Local groups from neighboring areas meet to participate in this event, which is strategically planned, to solidify alliances through a debtor-creditor relationship. This relationship is created through an exchange of goods that never ends in a balance; the roles are simply reversed. For example, "when the //kaiko// is over, the guests owe the hosts meat, and the hosts owe the guests trade items" (313). The purpose behind this switch is to ensure future //kaikos// occur, along with a continued trade between groups. The //kaiko// celebration is described by Schechner as a year-long festival of the Tsembaga, put on for both entertainment and strategic purposes. Key elements of the //kaiko// include dancing and trade. Local groups from neighboring areas meet to participate in this event, which is strategically planned, to solidify alliances through a debtor-creditor relationship. This relationship is created through an exchange of goods that never ends in a balance; the roles are simply reversed. For example, "when the //kaiko// is over, the guests owe the hosts meat, and the hosts owe the guests trade items" (313). The purpose behind this switch is to ensure future //kaikos// occur, along with a continued trade between groups.
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 In his observation of the ecological performances of the //kaiko// celebration by the Tsembaga people of New Guinea, Schechner draws a link between symbolic events and actual events. In the figure below, Schechner describes that “//the performance [of the kaiko] both symbolizes and actualizes the change in status//,” meaning that the ritual/performative exchange of meat and dances between Group A and Group B, “symbolizes the changed relationship” between reality and symbol (320). In his observation of the ecological performances of the //kaiko// celebration by the Tsembaga people of New Guinea, Schechner draws a link between symbolic events and actual events. In the figure below, Schechner describes that “//the performance [of the kaiko] both symbolizes and actualizes the change in status//,” meaning that the ritual/performative exchange of meat and dances between Group A and Group B, “symbolizes the changed relationship” between reality and symbol (320).
 {{ :omnipoetics:screenshot_2025-03-22_163919.png?500 |Schechner "Transformance" Chart from Symposium of a Whole}} {{ :omnipoetics:screenshot_2025-03-22_163919.png?500 |Schechner "Transformance" Chart from Symposium of a Whole}}
-This change can be observed in the next figure as Schechner shows how actualities are converted into aesthetics, which are both symbolic and temporary of the //kaiko// event and its subsequent alliances. As Schechner describes, the “mode of achieving ‘real results’—paying debts, incurring new obligations—was performing; the dancing does not celebrate achieving results, it does not precede or follow the exchange, it is the means of making transformations; the performance is effective” (321). Thus, these performative rituals are done in a way that metaphorically replaces real events/actions with symbols/actions. So as Schechner provides in the model below, war parties become dancing groups, combat become dancing, and so on. This therefore situates entertainment in relation to efficacy.+This change can be observed in the next figure as Schechner shows how actualities are converted into aesthetics, which are both symbolic and temporary of the //kaiko// event and its subsequent alliances. As Schechner describes, the “mode of achieving ‘real results’—paying debts, incurring new obligations—was performing; the dancing does not celebrate achieving results, it does not precede or follow the exchange, it is the means of making transformations; the performance is effective” (321). Thus, these performative rituals are done in a way that metaphorically replaces real events/actions with symbolic aesthetics/actions. So as Schechner provides in the model below, war parties become dancing groups, combat become dancing, and so on. This therefore situates entertainment in relation to efficacy.
 {{ :omnipoetics:screenshot_2025-03-22_164203.png?450 |Schechner "Doings" Chart from Symposium of a Whole}} {{ :omnipoetics:screenshot_2025-03-22_164203.png?450 |Schechner "Doings" Chart from Symposium of a Whole}}
 According to Schechner, this relationship between efficacy and entertainment forms a continuum, even though they technically exist as opposites. In the following figures, Schechner displays this opposition by placing ritualistic practices against theatre, acknowledging the binary differences between the two in relation to their functions rather than how they are strictly presented/performed in reality. In Schechner’s model, rituals are therefore about results whereas theatre emphasizes fun. In a performance centralized around efficacy, audience members are the participants, they live in the ritual, and creativity becomes collective. Opposing this, theatre, and entertainment at large, become about the individual and likewise their detachment from their audience. Schechner presents this model specifically to show efficacy and entertainment in their true and binary states. But as he previously claims, Schechner sees these two functions existing on a continuum, exposing how perspective can quickly alter how a ritual/performance is perceived. So, in the case of theatre, seeing what occurs backstage, or being a stagehand yourself, can greatly affect how one interacts and perceives the performance, shifting it towards something resembling efficacy. As Schechner claims, “The attention paid to the procedures of making theatre are, I think, attempts at ritualizing performance, or finding in the theatre itself authenticating acts” (322).  According to Schechner, this relationship between efficacy and entertainment forms a continuum, even though they technically exist as opposites. In the following figures, Schechner displays this opposition by placing ritualistic practices against theatre, acknowledging the binary differences between the two in relation to their functions rather than how they are strictly presented/performed in reality. In Schechner’s model, rituals are therefore about results whereas theatre emphasizes fun. In a performance centralized around efficacy, audience members are the participants, they live in the ritual, and creativity becomes collective. Opposing this, theatre, and entertainment at large, become about the individual and likewise their detachment from their audience. Schechner presents this model specifically to show efficacy and entertainment in their true and binary states. But as he previously claims, Schechner sees these two functions existing on a continuum, exposing how perspective can quickly alter how a ritual/performance is perceived. So, in the case of theatre, seeing what occurs backstage, or being a stagehand yourself, can greatly affect how one interacts and perceives the performance, shifting it towards something resembling efficacy. As Schechner claims, “The attention paid to the procedures of making theatre are, I think, attempts at ritualizing performance, or finding in the theatre itself authenticating acts” (322). 
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 Schechner, Robert. "Kaiko Celebration: A Symbolic Connection Between Ritualistic Dancing and Alliances." //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983. Schechner, Robert. "Kaiko Celebration: A Symbolic Connection Between Ritualistic Dancing and Alliances." //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.
  
 +{{tag>English United_States Theory Performance_Theory Ritual Theater Symposium_Of_The_Whole}}

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